When last I left off, the subject of discussion was the critical question about the food reward/palatability hypothesis of obesity: Can palatability and reward value of foods be disassociated from the metabolic and hormonal effects of the individual nutrients being consumed and, in particular, the sugar and refined grains that “hyper-rewarding” foods seem to … [Read more]

We’ve been discussing the food reward/palatability hypothesis of obesity and whether this idea adds anything meaningful to our understanding of obesity. Is the evidence for it sufficiently compelling that we should cease to pay attention to the fact that insulin, as Yalow and Berson noted in 1965, is “the principal regulator of fat metabolism?” … [Read more]

When last we left off, the subject was the food reward/palatability hypothesis of obesity and why I find it so unconvincing and problematic. This post is going to address that issue by first discussing three new papers published on the subject of sugar. Then I’m going to ask a lot of questions, hoping at least … [Read more]

When last I posted, oh so long ago, I promised next to discuss the food reward/palatability hypothesis of obesity and why I find it so uncompelling and more than a little bit disheartening. Why, in effect, I think it is the kind of bad science that begs to be challenged, as I did, when it … [Read more]

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Books

An eye-opening, paradigm-shattering examination of what makes us fat. In the New York Times best seller Good Calories, Bad Calories, acclaimed science writer Gary Taubes argues that certain kinds of carbohydrates—not fats and not simply excess calories—have led to our current obesity epidemic. Now he brings that message to a wider, nonscientific audience in this … [Read more]

[released as The Diet Delusion in the U.K.] In Good Calories, Bad Calories, Taubes tries to bury the idea that a low-fat diet promotes weight loss and better health. Obesity is caused, he argues, not by the quantity of calories you eat but by the quality. Carbohydrates, particularly refined ones like white bread and pasta, raise insulin … [Read more]

About

Gary Taubes (born April 30, 1956) is an American science writer. He is the author of Nobel Dreams (1987), Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion (1993), and Good Calories, Bad Calories (2007), which is titled The Diet Delusion in the UK. … [Read More...]

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Gary Taubes is available for media contacts and speaking engagements.
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